The Connections of Life

Had a dream last night that two of my old book-club pals from Washington had moved to the UK.
I don't need Freud to help me interpret that one, do I?
Yearning for past connections. Already made, already solidified.
Got me thinking about the connections we make in life.
They're often just out of circumstance. If not always so.
I mean, who do we make friends with?
People we end up spending time with, for one reason or another, usually.
First of all, the people we work with.
Which is not surprising, considering how much time we spend with them -- and how much you have in common at that time (your entire work life, which is a lot).
I've had lots of dear work friends over my working life. I miss them all now.
Then for parents, there's the friends you make through your children.
Like my book-club pals. All mothers of boys, like me, who played sports in middle and high school in the States. Same age as mine. We met -- and became friends -- on the school bleachers basically, watching games. I loved those school games. It's hard to beat a good high school basketball game on a Friday night. When your son's playing. And you're surrounded by people you know and like. At the same life stage as you.
I've still got friends, too, from other periods of my boys' childhoods -- when they were toddlers and elementary schoolboys in Hong Kong. Made some great friends then. I miss them all now too.
Connections.
They come and go.
Because jobs come and go.
Because kids grow up.
Because people change their lives.
Because people move.
Because some just get lost along the way.